The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2014, and October 31, 2015, are automatically nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on October 23, 2015, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Marion, pediatrician and author (The Boy Who Felt No Pain, 1990; The Intern Blues, 1989; the novel Born Too Soon, 1985) tells tales out of school--and out of internship and residency- -dramatizing his thesis that the education of doctors is virtually guaranteed to produce competent but insensitive physicians. According to Marion, most students entering medical school are idealistic and eager to help others. As third-year students, however, they serve as clinical clerks to overworked, burned-out, and callous interns. And once they become interns themselves they too become sleep-deprived and psychologically damaged, often blaming patients for their situation. As residents, young doctors have even more power and responsibility, and the uncaring attitude they developed as interns can have even greater impact on patient care. That this attitude may well remain once their training is finished is clear from Marion's portraits of various older physicians who figure in his stories. Occasionally a story seems designed more to hold a flattering light up to the author than to shed light on the problems inherent in our present system for training doctors, but all are engrossing. Marion knows how to spin a tale, including enough medical detail to lend veracity to his account yet not overwhelm the lay reader. In an epilogue, he makes his own brief recommendations for revamping the education of doctors; after exposure to the medical mind-set presented in his stories, a question remains as to whether his recommendations go far enough. Absorbing stories that reveal the need for major reforms in how doctors are trained.

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